Retractable shades have been popular for many years and generally extend across or are retracted from covering architectural openings such as windows, doorways, archways, and the like. Such retractable coverings may include a roller rotatably supported with a shade material suspended therefrom. The shade material can either be wrapped about the roller when retracting the shade or unwrapped from the roller when extending the shade.
Some retractable coverings such as Venetian blinds do not have a shade material that wraps around or unwraps from a roller, but rather a rotatable shaft in the head rail that is adapted to wrap or unwrap lift cords thereabout. The lift cords generally may extend downwardly through the slats of the blind to a bottom rail to raise or lower the bottom rail when retracting or extending the blind.
Many retractable coverings are operated with flexible operating cords which may extend, for example, downwardly through the shade material to the bottom rail of the covering from the head rail and be operated from free ends of the cords. The free ends of the cords may be exposed adjacent to one end of a head rail for manipulation of an operator.
Operating and pull cords can be an issue with retractable coverings, as in some instances the cords may become tangled and difficult to use, fray or break, damage the covering from repeated wear, and may sometimes form loops that may present a risk to users.